Ningbo, China — Esha Singh of India won a gold medal in the women’s 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup 2025 in Ningbo, China. She won India’s first medal at the fourth and last World Cup of the year for pistol and rifle shooters.
After a tough qualifying round, 20-year-old Olympian Esha gave a great performance in the final. She and fellow Indian shooter Rhythm Sangwan were the last two to make it to the medal match. They finished ninth and tenth, respectively, in the preliminary qualifiers. Another Indian, Palak, got the best qualification but was only competing for Ranking Points Only (RPO) and could not win a medal.
Esha produced an amazing comeback in the final, earning 242.6 points to take the lead. She beat China’s Yao Qianxun by a small margin, who finished with 242.5 points. Esha shot a 10.5 against Yao’s 10.4 on the last shot of the competition, winning the gold medal by the smallest of margins. The medal went to Oh Yejin of South Korea, who holds the Olympic record.
This is the first time Esha Singh has won a gold medal on her own at an ISSF World Cup event. She had already won a silver medal in the same event at the 2022 World Cup in Cairo and another silver in the 25m pistol variant in Argentina earlier this year.
India has now won all four World Cup gold medals in women’s competitions this year, thanks to her triumph. Suruchi Singh had won gold medals in Buenos Aires, Lima, and Munich before this one.
In the men’s 25m pistol event, on the other hand, no Indian shooters made it to the medal match. In the qualifications, Bhavesh Shekhawat and Pradeep Singh Shekhawat came in 22nd and 23rd, respectively.
Swapnil Kusale from India, who won a bronze medal in Paris 2024, will compete in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions event on Sunday, the last day of the competition. Manu Bhaker, who also won an Olympic medal, is not going to the Ningbo competition.